Google is testing a new Hangout-based feature which will allow experts to offer video tips and advice. So if your computer isn’t working, you’re looking for effective ways to get fit, or you’re not sure when’s the best time of year to prune a fruit tree, you can go online and ask for help.

According to Google, “Helpouts is a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help, over live video, anytime, anywhere”. Topics which will be covered include Arts and Music, Computers and Electronics, Cooking, Education, Fashion and Beauty, Fitness and Nutrition, Health and Counseling, and Home and Garden.

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If your current browser isn’t working as it should then you’ll appreciate the new "Reset browser settings" option (Settings > Advanced) Google has added to Chrome 29 FINAL. This restores the original default browser settings, while leaving apps, bookmarks and themes untouched.

As promised in the previous release, rich notifications (the system where alerts from apps and extensions can appear in a separate window, even when the browser isn’t running) is now available for Mac, as well as Windows. Check the Chrome 28 release post for settings guidance if this isn’t working for you.

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When the Google+ Photo app was released as a Pixel exclusive in June, many Chromebook loyalists (including myself) were dismayed. Since the Pixel was so expensive, it felt as if non-Pixel users were being punished for buying inexpensive devices. Surely my $249 Samsung Chromebook can handle a photo app!

Today, Google announces that the app is available for all Chromebooks -- including us in the cheap seats.

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Looking at the the biggest stories on BetaNews from August, 11 - 17, 2013. This week there has been a lot of Microsoft related news setting tongues wagging -- and it's been something of a rollercoaster. Early on in the week we got a sneak peak at what to expect in the upcoming Windows 8.1 update after a new build leaked online. Build 9471 includes a number of changes from the official Preview, including new tutorials, extra personalization options, changes to a few of the built-in apps and integrated Skype.

Not long after the leak version was discovered, Microsoft went on to talk about creating a unified experience across different Microsoft and Windows devices and services. And for anyone who is sick of the Windows 8.1 hype there was some good news -- the official release date is only a couple of months away, after which things should start to quieten down.

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Right now in Edinburgh, the Fringe festival is taking place. Billed as the world's largest arts festival, this three week long extravaganza is home to the weird and the wacky, the silly and the serious, the new and the inventive. But what it's really known for is comedy; it's where many household names took their first steps on the road to fame, and huge numbers of big names come back year after year.

Thousands of shows take place in bars, basements, theatres, on street corners -- just about anywhere you can think of. The Fringe is famous the world over, and the Scottish capital swells in size as performers and fans travel from not only around the UK, but from all over the world. Sadly, not everyone who wants to make it to the festival is able to do so. Google thinks it has the answer in the form of the Hangout Comedy Club.

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When I first got my Nokia Lumia 928, the YouTube app was already unavailable at the request of Google, so I never got a chance to try it. However, the Windows Phone community was quick to tell me how great it was. Sadly, it was replaced with a different "app" that only served as a shortcut to the mobile YouTube site.

Yesterday, the full version of the app returned to the Windows Phone Store so I excitedly downloaded it. However, the app never worked for me. Coincidentally, this was during the Outlook.com outage so I assumed it might be related. Today, I learn that they were not related -- Google has actually disabled the video sharing app!

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Those on newer versions of Android are likely very familiar with Google Now, the increasingly more functional personal assistant for phones and tablets. Google has ambitions for this service that move beyond the mobile market and onto your computer via the company's website.

"Ever had trouble checking your flight’s status on the go because it meant digging through your email for the flight number? Or wanted to just quickly see whether your package would arrive on time, without having to look up the tracking info first? You’ve told us it would be much easier if you could skip the fuss and just ask Google", says Roy Livne, Product Manager at Google.

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Google has announced new features in its Google+ app for Android aimed at making its social network a valuable workplace tool. On the company's enterprise blog, Joël Kalmanowicz, Product Manager, Google Apps Team says, "If you're a Google Apps for Business, Government or Education customer, today we're releasing a few new features designed to make it even easier for you to get things done with Google+".

The app now supports multiple accounts allowing you to sign in to both work and private profiles and easily switch between them. You can also create restricted posts that can't be shared outside your organization. There are new domain labels too, both in the app and on the web, allowing you to quickly identify your colleagues' profiles so you know that you're connecting and sharing with the right people.

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If you're in the US, you've had access to the Nexus 7 for a few weeks now. I'm in the UK which means that, technically, I have to wait until August 28 for the release on my side of the Atlantic. But the nice chaps at Google saw fit to wing a unit my way so I wouldn't have to wait. Lovely.

I was already aware of the experiences of my colleague Alan Buckingham who, stateside, had received his Nexus some time before me. He was understandably disappointed to find that the tablet he was sent was unusable; it would not boot.

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Google Maps has become adventurous -- what began as mapping, turned into street view of roads around the world and then morphed to bigger things, like underwater dives and hikes down amazing trails. All of this could be found, though it needed to be searched, but now the company wishes to unify all of this data in one location.

From the oceans to the lowest depths of the Grand Canyon, the search giant's team has traversed many of the coolest and most remote locations around the globe. And, a new website, appropriately named "Views" collates this data into a single location, including such far-flung locals as the Great Barrier Reef and Mount Everest.

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Shortly after Microsoft released its native YouTube Windows Phone 8 app in early-May, Google sent the software giant a cease and desist letter, demanding the app's removal from Store. The reasons, according to the document, centered on three main features that Microsoft baked-in, namely content download, an ad-free user experience and forgoing playback restrictions. The app was pulled from Windows Phone Store in late-May, and replaced with the older iteration.

Good news! Late-yesterday, following a collaboration with Google, Microsoft quietly launched a compliant YouTube Windows Phone 8 app. "We've released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads", says Microsoft in a statement issued to me. "We appreciate Google's support in ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience and look forward to continuing the collaboration".

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Like many British people, I grew up with Doctor Who. Looking back, some of the episodes of my youth that had me hiding behind the settee in fear were laughable rather than scary, but back then we didn’t know any better. Doctor Who these days though is a much more polished affair, with better effects, more convincing aliens and improved storytelling.

If you’re a fan of the Doctor and have always dreamed of going on adventures in his TARDIS but have never been lucky enough to have the iconic blue police box materialise in front of you, now is your chance thanks to Google and a hidden Street View Easter egg.

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Google's Chromecast streamer may not yet have set the world on fire but it is earning itself quite a following. Part of the device's appeal is its low price -- just $35 for a fairly capable plugin streaming unit -- but there are times when only free will do. CheapCast is a free app that turns virtually any Android phone or tablet (running Android 2.2 or above is the only requirement) into a Chromecast.

The app is a fairly early beta, but in terms of replicating what Chromecast has to offer, it does a reasonably good job. CheapCast does nothing, yet, to address many of the complaints about Chromecast -- such as the inability to easily stream local content -- but it does mimic the Google device's casting capabilities for the likes of YouTube and Google Play.

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Adopting Windows Phone 8, and ditching Android, was one of the most daring decisions that I have ever made in my entire tech life. I am the sort of person who does not warm up to major changes (not my strong suit), especially ones that involve transitioning between two polarizing mobile platforms. But, surprisingly, I gave up the flexibility and versatility of the green droid operating system for the glanceable information and simplicity of Windows Phone. Admittedly, it was not smooth sailing from day one.

The problem is that, in order to fully adjust to the change, something has got to give, namely features that I consider to be essential for a modern-day smartphone operating system. For some they may not matter as much, but others -- like me, and maybe you -- are likely to be left wanting for more. And, no, I am not talking about widgets, themes, root or Instagram (it, however, seems to be the tech media's favorite blaming toy even though there are good third-party alternatives), but rather more down-to-earth, mundane ones.

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Microsoft's Scroogled campaign, an attack on rival Google, is still in full-swing, despite taking turns between entertaining and ridiculous. My colleague Wayne Williams described it as "sad and embarrassing", but I am not so sure I would go quite that far, though neither will I defend the software maker in this battle.

Now Microsoft launches its latest attack -- again going after Gmail. This time around, the company goes after the new tabbed design in Gmail, though it focuses on treating the email service on the whole as a trojan horse for advertising -- not a new claim, only a new video for an old accusation. The video, of course, ends with the plea to use Outlook.com.

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